Anal cleaning falls into a number of categories:                1) Wiping with paper is by far the most common method used and, whilst commonly accepted, has certain problems in as much as it can be messy, and normal hygiene requires the hands to be washed after the anus is wiped.        
Wiping with paper is generally not a perfect way of cleaning the anal area. It can cause irritation and cross contamination to other areas. It can cause the spread of bacteria from hands to food when washing of one's hands is not performed or is inadequate. Also, paper in toilets is prone to run out especially in public toilets. Paper consumption for this operation is enormous.
Excessive use of paper by any one user can cause a blockage in the toilet bowl and happens quite frequently on sea going vessels. A person using this method also has to be of normal build proportions to be physically able to accomplish the reaching of the area concerned and completing the wiping operation. People with physical disabilities such as bad backs, arthritis, injured hands, wrists, arms, shoulders or any other injury which immobilises the dexterous side of the body are often unable to complete the task of wiping with paper.
For example a right-handed person who is post operational eg. from a right shoulder rotata cuff tendon syndrome, whereby the right arm is immobilised, can suddenly find the task most difficult and sometimes impossible to accomplish with the left hand.
2) Bidets use water jets in toilet bowls. This apparatus is used more frequently in Continental countries and is somewhat more hygienic. However there are certain difficulties experienced with this method, in as much as copious quantities of water are used and a large area has to be dried, using once again a lot of paper and/or a towel which then has to be washed.
Bidets are additionally installed dedicated devices which are generally more expensive than the normal low down flushing toilet suite. Bidet devices fitted to a low down flushing suite have a number of problems associated with the installation and use of the devices. The following documents are examples:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,818,388 U.S. Pat. No. 2,852,782 U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,066, U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,326, U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,487, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,754.
These bidet devices are designed to be retrofitted to conventional flushing toilet bowls and often require extensive modifications to the normal plumbing installations. Furthermore the spray heads of these devices and dedicated bidets are mounted in a fixed position necessitating the use of a copious quantities of water, wetting a large area in the endeavour to accomplish thorough cleaning of the anus. A question of the hygienic state of these devices also exists due to the possibility of improper cleaning of the device after each usage.
3) Hand Held Bidets and Douches are also known.
Examples include:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,038, U.S. Pat. No. 3,662, U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,481, U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,864, U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,742, U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,594, U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,402, U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,630, U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,058, AU-B-63102/90, CA2149839, DE4421424, JP2000-051313, JP09262187, JP2000-093483 and JP2000-070325.
The prior art hand held devices incorporating water sprays can be used to clean the anal area but are such that the positioning of the water spray is by the operation of the device and the sensitive feel of the water spray on the user's body skin. The operation of such devices whereby one cannot see the area to be cleaned requires guesswork and dexterity by the operator.
Such prior art hand held cleaning devices can cause damage if held in contact with the surface of body parts. Such prior art devices can also cause cross contamination and infection to other parts of the body.
Prior art hand held bidets and douches in the main tend to wet a large area which has to be dried. This in itself becomes a problem.
It would be advantageous if a device could be provided that is simple to manufacture and use.